#mauhem

Enslaved: Blodhemn (1998)

Before they took their leap into the progressive metal unknown, never to look back, with 2000’s pivotal Mardraum - Beyond the Within, Enslaved launched their Viking metal longships for a final, devastating Scandinavian black metal invasion on ‘98’s particularly fierce Blodhemn.

That’s Norwegian for ‘Vengeance in Blood,’ by the way.

Mind you, Enslaved's songwriting had never been anything less than inquisitive and adventurous from day one, but, so far, they’d still relied extensively on core black metal attributes like shrieked vocals, buzz-saw guitars, manic blast-beats, and Vikings instead of demons as protagonists.

But, since the previous year’s Eld had lacked for both inspiration and decent sonics, Enslaved felt compelled to enlist respected producer Peter Tägtgren this time, to both focus their fury and rein in song lengths at his own Abyss Studios, resulting in a cleaner, leaner, meaner set.

Of course, this prompted some detractors to criticize the results as sounding “too Swedish” (what, Swedish like ABBA?), Norwegian-sung lyrics and all, but that just proves you just can’t satisfy everyone.

Well, they satisfied me!

Because, despite the relative rigidity of their titanium-plated exoskeletons, superlative efforts like “I Lenker Til Ragnarok,” “Urtical Gods,” and “Nidingaslakt” packed reams of clever ideas and counterpoint riffs -- plus, the last two were as ‘black ‘n’ roll’ as Enslaved got, back then.

Elsewhere, the psychedelic/electronic bridge seeping out of “Ansuz Astral” previewed the avant-metal experiments just around the corner, while dark hymns like “Eit Auga Til Mimir” and the title track added new victories to the band’s by now almost unchallenged Viking metal battle record. 

Heck, I don’t even mind Grutle’s inevitable spotlighting of his manly, melancholy mystery chants, on the folksy first half of “Suttungs Mjød” -- any dude willing to stand on a freezing rock for his art, gets a free pass with me.

In conclusion, though even the best Enslaved LPs of yore sound comparatively predictable today, next to their paradigm-shattering latter-day adventures, the band’s music was never less than ballsy and bad-ass, so Blodhemn was no exception. 

p.s. -- Some of these words hailed from my All-Music Guide review of Blodhemn, as well as my ranking of Enslaved’s discography for Loudwire.